The invention relates to a method for operating an electromagnetic transfer system and to a transfer system.
A method for operating an electromagnetic transfer system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,876,107 B2. A transfer system is thereby disclosed, for example, in FIG. 5 in which a plurality of electromagnetically movable transport elements that can be individually actuated and moved is arranged on a carrier path. Such a transfer system serves, for example, to take over items, which are typically conveyed on a feeder device spaced apart at varying distances from one other, by means of the individual transport elements, to guide the items along a transport route and deliver said items to a downstream conveyor device spaced at defined distances from one another. The transport elements used in such transfer systems have a certain overall length in the direction of movement thereof on the carrier path. In the case of items which have an extension or, respectively, dimension in the direction of transportation of the transport elements, which corresponds to the overall length of the transport element, it is thereby possible to deliver said items, which enter into the region of the transfer system via the feeder device spaced apart at relatively large distances from one another, to the downstream conveyor device at a spacing which is significantly less than that of the incoming items. In the case of items which have a length in the direction of transportation in the transfer system that is greater than the length of the transport element, it is theoretically possible for the items to be subsequently delivered in a contiguous manner to the downstream conveyor device.
Applications in which the items have a dimension in their direction of transportation in the transfer system that is significantly less than the overall length of the transport element can, however, present a problem. Because in extreme cases the transport elements can only be directly contiguous to one another in the delivery region of the transfer system, a distance therefore remains between the individual items in the transport elements which results from the difference in length between the transport elements and the item or items in the direction of transportation. Using the device disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,876,107 B2 or the operating method thereof, it is therefore not possible to deliver items, which have a dimension or, respectively, length in the direction of transportation that is less than that of the transport element, to the downstream conveyor device so as to be spaced apart at a distance which is less than the difference between the length of the transport element and the items.